The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology standardized first by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and now by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS carries both circuit switched (CS) and packet switched (PS) traffic using, for example, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) as its air interface. The description of the network components and protocols used in UMTS are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are available to the public from 3GPP, ETSI, and other sources. The UMTS network architecture consists of three interacting domains: Core Network (CN), UTRAN, and User Equipment (UE).
The Core Network (CN) provides switching and routing for user traffic and provides network management functions. The Core Network architecture is based on the GSM network with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). The UTRAN provides an air interface to a subscriber's UE, such as handheld phones, wireless laptop computer cards, or other wireless devices. The UMTS user equipment communicates over an air interface to a base station. Base stations in the UTRAN are referred to as Node-Bs. The UE may be attached to either the PS domain, CS domain, or both. A UE may be capable of simultaneously using PS services and CS services. The control equipment for the Node-Bs is called a Radio Network Controller (RNC).
Data transmissions within the UMTS, except for the air interface (Uu), use Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Accordingly, ATM is used to transmit on the Tu interfaces. The ATM layer multiplexes, demultiplexes, and routes ATM cells, and ensures that their sequence from end to end. An ATM cell, the smallest unit in ATM, contains two address parameters, Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI). A Virtual Path is the permanent Virtual Connection for exchanging Node B Application Part (NBAP) and Access Link Control Application Protocol (ALCAP) messages between an RNC and a Node B. By permanent virtual connection it is understood that the connection will be setup once and will run until it is changed or deleted by an operation and maintenance (O&M) process. To transmit higher level protocols via ATM, adaptation layers are used. ATM Adaption Layers (AAL) are responsible for the creation and reception of payloads through the lower layers of ATM on behalf of different applications. ATM Adaption Layer type 2 (AAL2) handles circuit-switched connections, while packet connection protocol AAL5 is designed for data delivery. AAL2 has been developed to transport multiple data streams and a Connection Identifier (CID) identifies each stream. Each AAL2 virtual connection is uniquely associated with an ATM Virtual Path Identifier (VPI), ATM Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI), AAL2 Connection Identifier (CID) and ATM port, which corresponds to the port on which the message arrives and may also be referred to herein as a port identification (PortId).
Network operators, including large telecommunications companies, want to be able to manage their networks to provide their customers, including end users, an appropriate level of service and quality. In order to manage these complicated networks, it is useful to first understand the topology of the network. While the topology of the core may be identified and characterized by hand, for example when the system is being created, as the system spreads out from the core the number of connections increases making manual identification impossible, or at least infeasible. Furthermore, even if the hardware topology is know out to the Node Bs, the data being communicated between end users passes through virtual connections. To more fully manage the network and monitor the level of service and the quality of service, it would be desirable to be able to identify the AAL2 virtual connections. As these connections are virtual, they may be created, changed or deleted over time. To manually identify and track these connections would be impossible, or infeasible.